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I loved this book and was very sorry when I finished it. I have also spent my life losing weight, gaining weight, exercising or slobbing, and wondering why I seem to be the only person in the world who has this battle. This was a book with a difference, however. I won't give too much of the story away, but it comforted me to read the lengths the author went to in order to lose weight, and how very difficult it was, and such a slow process. I too have run miles and been SO disappointed in the results. This book was an eye-opener in that it made me realise how difficult the weight-loss battle actually is, regardless of some people who try to tell me it is just a piece of cake.

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Initially I found her cyclical whining on about how fed up she is with being fat/eating vast amounts of cakes/dieting/being fat etc etc highly irritating. I mean really, I thought, you just need to get real girl, cakes/chocolate/muffins make you FAT so stop eating them, DIMMO. But then I equated her cake fetish with my wine fetish and I saw where she was coming from. Read wine for cake and I'm there - but with a worse hangover. I liked her style and often found myself guffawing as I identified with what her observations - it was especially poignant that even when she was "there", at a weight/size others didn't think of her as fat at, she stil thought she was. In the end this book left me feeling that dieting and losing weight requires energy, and isn't something you can do without effort and endurance. But more than that here is a woman who ok, isn't sylph like but isn't massively obese -she weighs 14 and a bit stones at her heaviest and is a UK size 20, and exercises like crazy. This gril is FIT and, from the only photo I could find of her, very beautiful. I think it is so so sad that she can't see that and accept herself as she is, but then I look in the mirror at my very healthy,(pulse50, BP100/50mmhg) fit but no, it ain't a size 12 body and think, yeah, right.

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One of the best diet memoirs I have read. Courtney is a journalist who writes very well and, often, movingly on the trials and tribulations of losing weight. It is a memoir of weight loss not a diet book so do not expect meal plans and recipies. What she is outstanding on is the angst of losing weight and how it impacts on relationships. It's very real. She recounts the frustration she feels as her weight goes up and down just like Alice in Wonderland when she trys to eat and drink her way into the enchanted garden. She inspired me with her exercise, humour and modesty. I also found the length of time it took an inspiration rather than a deterrant.

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I loved this book. I have read a few weight loss memoirs and this one is definitely amongst the best.I was a little disapointed halfway through when I realise it would not be the straightforward success story that I am used to encountering when it comes to weight loss memoirs.However, the author describes her struggles in such a candid and humourous manner, that although I kept vying for her success, I ended up loving her just the way she is. Although it is not a success weight loss story it is nonetheless a very empowering book.A truly honest account of the uphill battle with weight that some of us struggle with. This book will stay on my shelf and I am sure I will revisit it.

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I read this book with a pencil in hand to underline all the bits I could relate to and what applied to me - in the beginning that felt like the first few chapters where she sets the scene.

On her journey over a 2 year period she talks about food in relation to work, family, relationships, holidays and trips and I found it so suprising how much we had in common. I am not alone! Basically the diet thing is a journey - a lifestyle to adopt.

This book is a long read but very worth reading. I'd recommend a pencil in hand because you will want to re-read certain parts again!

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This book was brilliant! Courtney comes across as an intelligent, funny young woman who has an obsession to lose weight, but her relationship with food will not allow her. It answered a lot of questions for me and my yo-yo diet life. Being over weight IS about eating too much, but the reason for eating too much is more about what's going on in your head than just applying willpower to stop eating so much. I'm not sure I have an answer for how I am going to lose my weight and keep it off, but this book has certainly given me inspiration to never give up and stop beating myself up so much. The book was funny, sad, desperate and heart-warming. Courtney is the kind of person I would have as a friend. I feel empty now I have finished the book and I'll try to find other things that Courtney has written.

Courtney, if you ever read this review, PLEASE write another book!!! This one finished in 2004 so you must have more material by now!!!

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A lovely book, written by a woman who comes across as the sort of person you would like to meet and be friends with. Her struggles with losing weight, gaining weight, over-eating, exercise are familiar and saddening but ultimately hopeful. The element of hope comes across throughout the book, even when she is in the midst of her lowest times.

There is no happy ending, but the hope remains through to the end of the book. I'd love to know what happens next, as it feels like there was no "proper" conclusion, but this is, I suppose, how real life often works.

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Having had problems with food and weight all my life, it's great to read about someone else sharing the experience. This book is like a companion for part of my journey to get rid of these demons. Wonderful writing, sad to end.

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Absolutely loved it! The writing style is amazing and hilarious.I loved it particularly because the book is exclusively about the journey and not the destination. I could relate so much to it!Loved it!